Assessing the Status and Challenges of Urban Land Administration Systems Using Framework for Effective Land Administration (FELA): A Case Study in Pakistan

Abstract

The urban land administration system (LAS) of any country serves as a key pillar for good governance, resource planning, service delivery, infrastructure development, and revenue collection. To reform their LASs, countries need a thorough understanding of their existing context and global relevance. The goal of this paper is to examine the status and challenges of urban LASs in Pakistan using the United Nations Framework for Effective Land Administration (FELA). The exploratory case study method used in the paper employs a mixed approach, which includes FELA-based questionnaire surveys, group discussions, and desk reviews. A total of 525 urban LAS stakeholders, including owner-buyers, real estate agents, bankers, lawyers, and LAS organizations, participated in the activity. The results show that more than half of the stakeholders are not satisfied with existing urban LASs, their governance and accountability, laws, and policies. Corruption is prevalent mostly in government organizations. Fraud and joint ownership are the most common sources of dispute, with 67 percent of the respondents stating that the cases take more than two years to resolve in court. The financial aspect of urban LASs is suffering due to property undervaluation and low revenue collection. Manual data and record keeping in LASs further complicate the system, with 87 percent of all respondents interested in innovating the urban LAS using modern technologies. Furthermore, 92 percent of all respondents expressed the need to standardize the existing LASs. There is a lack of capacity and skills, and 89 percent of organizations’ respondents believe that human resources skilled in Geographical Information Systems (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) can improve the efficiency of urban LASs. There is a lack of partnership among LAS organizations and a gap in the accessibility of LAS-related quality information. The country’s vision of building smart cities can be realized through LAS standardization and 3D and GIS innovation.

Combating Land Grabbing in Pakistan: Legal Challenges and Reforms

“…These grabbers are tight with corrupt officials in the land system and even the cops. They get a free pass through the legal stuff and avoid getting caught (Ahsan, 2023).…”

Applying the Land Administration Domain Model (LADM) for Integrated, Standardized, and Sustainable Development of Cadastre Country Profile for Pakistan

“…FELA is also a United Nations global policy guideline for achieving sustainable development for the LAS domain [98]. The FELA outcomes already assessed by the authors of this research [30] are also included in the evaluation.…”

“…In the existing manual LAS, the buyer's primary responsibility is to ensure that the property location is correct and that the seller has the original right of ownership. Land disputes in the country often arise due to joint ownership, making it crucial for a buyer to ensure a clear demarcation and partition of property in such cases [30]. The fiscal nature of LAS does not recognise separate ownership where different right holders are administered under single identification (Khewat) for revenue collection [102,103].…”

“…The evaluation criteria for the PK_LADM are based on the FELA and SDGs. The authors of this research already identified vital challenges of existing LAS in Pakistan using FELA [30], including the development of conclusive and reliable LAS using (3D) geospatial technology, reforming and implementing laws and policies, as well as avoiding corruption and malpractices.…”

“…Developing effective, accountable, and transparent institutes, including LAS organisations in the country, is critical [117]. The LAS stakeholders are facing issues, especially those dealing with organisations under government control [30,118]. 17-Partnership for the Goals 17.1…”